//------------------------------// // Booking Your Stay // Story: Vacation Revelations (Or, Why Do Humans Bother to Wear Bikinis?) // by ssjgokillo //------------------------------//         The decorations that adorned the throne room of Canterlot Castle today were beautiful.  Twilight couldn’t help but be impressed with the work Rarity had done, the unicorn had clearly pulled out all the stops to ensure that the decor was befitting the event of the day.         Twilight tore her gaze away from the decorations to look at her mentor.  Princess Celestia had graciously agreed to officiate the ceremony.  The vows had been spoken, the rings exchanged, and the Princess was finishing giving her blessings before the union would be official.         “I now pronounce you mare and mare.”  Celestia said, and Twilight found the Princesses warm gaze on her, a fond smile on her face.  “You may now kiss the bride.”         Twilight waited in anticipation.  There was no kiss however.  After a few moments she could hear hushed whispers coming from the assembled ponies.         “Hey Twi, whatcha waiting for?”  The raspy voice of Rainbow Dash came from beside her.  Twilight’s eyes flew open, and for the first time she realized that she was wearing a tuxedo, one which did not allow her wings any sort of freedom.  Next to her, wearing a beautiful white gown, was an anxious looking Rainbow Dash.         “R-Rainbow Dash?!  I don’t understand, what’s going on here?”  Twilight asked.         Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.  “Geez Egghead, I know you’re not one for P.D.A, but c’mon!”  With that said, Rainbow Dash reared up and threw her forelegs around Twilight’s neck. Before Twilight could even register what was happening, she felt the warm caress of Rainbow Dash’s lips against hers.  The crowd began to cheer in the background, and music began playing throughout the room.         “AHHHH!”  Twilight’s eyes flew open and she gasped for air as she sat up.  Her head whipped back and forth as she looked around, trying to figure out how she had gotten married to one of her friends.  Her heart was thumping in her chest, even as her senses caught up with her.  She could see she was no longer in a beautifully decorated castle.  Instead she found herself laying against the statue in front of Canterlot High School.  She was not wearing a tuxedo, but a shirt and purple skirt.  Most importantly, she was not being kissed by…         She had totally been kissed by Rainbow Dash!         What had happened?  Why had this Rainbow Dash kissed her?  Was it something she did?  Something she said?  Maybe it was some strange human greeting?  That could be it!  Maybe when humans saw each other after a certain amount of time apart, they would try and stick their tongues down each others throats.         Twilight groaned and put her head in her hands.  That didn’t make any sense at all.  But, then again, it also didn’t make sense for Rainbow Dash to suddenly kiss her.         “Hey!  I think she’s finally up!”  Twilight’s head snapped up at the sound of Rainbow Dash’s voice.  She desperately fought down the blush she could feel spreading across her face at the sight of the athlete.  She quickly looked away from Rainbow Dash, trying to will away the memory of the kiss.  Her eyes landed on the person Rainbow Dash had been talking to.         Herself.         Twilight’s eyes widened as she saw herself, looking down at her.  Even the thought was giving her a headache.         It seemed the other Twilight was having similar problems.  “This just doesn’t make any sense!  I mean you’re me, but I’m me too!  How can there be two me’s?  That’s not scientifically possible!”  She then pointed an accusing finger at Twilight.  “You’re not scientifically possible!”         Great, to top it all off now Twilight was getting a double case of deja vu.           “I told ya Twi!  She’s the reason everyone at school acted like they already knew ya!”  Rainbow said.  She was grinning at standing Twilight, her face full of the smug “I-told-you-so” look.  Twilight returned the look with a glare.         “Umm, excuse me,”  Twilight said, catching the attention of both the other Twilight and Rainbow Dash.  “Could somepo-somebody explain what’s going on?”         “It’s pretty simple.  I was supposed to meet Twi here for a date.  I saw you standing by the school and thought that little-miss-honor-student had started to miss classes already, so I figured I’d surprise her!  Only it was you, and not her.”  Rainbow Dash said.  She shot the Twilight standing beside her a sheepish smile.  “Serious Twi, it was an honest mistake!”         Twilight watched as the other Twilight looked between her and Rainbow Dash.  Finally, she sighed, and shook her head.  “I suppose I can understand it.  I mean, we do look exactly alike.  Besides, technically it’s her fault, she didn’t send any notice or schedule any time to visit.”         Twilight’s face blanched as she realized that her counterpart was right!  She hadn’t made a schedule, or sent a letter ahead.  Well, it would’ve been hard to send a letter ahead, but still!  She didn’t even make a checklist for the trip!  Or pack!!  How could she be so irresponsible?!         Noticing the panicked look on Twilight’s face, Rainbow Dash jumped in.  “Hey!  She’s a magical pony princess that comes from a whole different world!  Not like she’s got a cell-phone over there. And look, now she’s freaking out over scheduling just like you would!”         A blush quickly spread over the face of the other Twilight, before she sighed.  “You’re right.  Sorry ummm.. Twilight?”  She made a face as she said the name, almost like it had been difficult to actually vocalize.         The sound of her voice (even if it wasn’t actually her voice) brought Twilight out of her inner rant.  “I-It’s okay.  You’re right, I wish there would’ve been a better way to communicate.  It was a pretty sudden departure for me to.”  She sighed, and leaned back against the statue, thinking about the reasons she had decided to come to this world.  The stone felt hot against her head, making her realize that the temperature outside was hotter than the last time she had been here.           The other Twilight and Rainbow Dash shared a look.  “Everything alright Twilight?”  Rainbow Dash asked.         The other Twilight shook her head.  “That is going to get really confusing.”  She muttered.         Twilight sighed again.  Maybe this had been a mistake.  “Sorry, I think it’ll be for the best if I just…”  Suddenly, something Rainbow Dash had said earlier registered in her mind.  “Wait… a date?”  She said, catching Rainbow and the other Twilight off guard.  “You said you were meeting her here… for a date?”         “Yeah!  We were going to go catch the new Daring Do movie and then grab a bite over at the restaurant that Pinkie’s working at.”  Rainbow Dash smiled at the other Twilight.  “Egghead over here hasn’t seen any of the movies yet.  And she calls herself a fan!”         “Right,”  Twilight was still trying to wrap her head around what she knew should be a simple concept.  “So you two are… marefriends?”         The other Twilight gave her a look at that.  “The term here would be girlfriends, and yes, we have been dating for a little over two months now.”         This had never happened to Twilight before.  She knew each of those words individually, but together in that particular order they just didn’t make sense.  “B-B-But… but how?  What about Flash Sentry?!”         Rainbow Dash blinked for a moment before she began to giggle.  Her giggles soon turned into full blown laughter.  The other Twilight, in comparison, was scowling at the mention of the name.         Twilight looked at Rainbow Dash in confusion before looking at the dour look on the other Twilight.  “Was it something I said?”         The other Twilight sighed.  “It’s a long story.”  She nudged Rainbow Dash in the side, who was almost doubled over in laughter at this point.  “Come on Dame Laughsalot, let’s go to Sugarcube Corner.  You can regale the ‘princess’ with the story on the way.”         Rainbow Dash nodded, straightening up but still laughing.  The other Twilight offered Twilight a hand, pulling her off the ground.  Rainbow Dash ran over and grabbed her bike, walking it over to the two Twilights.  Once everyone was ready, the trio began walking down the path from the school.         “Oh man, you’re going to love this one, Twilight!”  Rainbow said as they walked.  “So, things kind of went back to normal after you left.  Everybody was a little wary around Sunset Shimmer, but she really seemed to take what you said to heart, and pretty soon everyone was getting along just fine.”         Twilight smiled at hearing that.  She had hoped that the other students would be able to forgive Sunset Shimmer for her almost tyrannical rule of the school.         “Then, like a month after you left, we have a transfer student!”  Rainbow Dash playfully bumped into the Twilight’s double.  “This gal right here.  The only thing is, everyone else didn’t really know the whole story, so they thought she was you!”         The other Twilight rolled her eyes.  “It was aggravating, and a little creepy.  Everyone kept cheering for me, saying they were glad to have me back and such.  I couldn’t figure out what was going on.  At first I thought it was some school-wide prank.”         Rainbow Dash nodded.  “Me and the rest of the girls tried to explain what was going on, but she didn’t believe us.”         “How could I?  You were telling me that a magical pony doppelganger came here, made all of you friends again, gave you wings and fought a demonic Sunset Shimmer, before returning to her magical pony land!  Who would ever believe a story like that?”         “Yeah yeah.  Anyways, so after her first couple days at the school, Flash Sentry starts to wonder why she hasn’t come running into his arms or something.  So he starts that whole “Oh, we need to stop bumping into each other” routine on her.  Only Twi’s not buyin it.”         “It was so annoying!  I couldn’t leave a class without ‘bumping’ into him!”  The other Twilight threw her arms up in frustration.  “He kept acting like it was some big inside joke or something.”         Rainbow Dash smirked at Twilight.  “I guess even Flash didn’t realize you two weren’t the same person.  So one day during lunch, Flash sees Twi struggling to hold this big stack of books and grab her lunch at the same time.  I guess he figured he’d be a nice guy and give her a hand, so he goes over there and puts a hand on her shoulder…”         The other Twilight groaned and looked away from Rainbow Dash and Twilight.  Twilight looked between the two, wondering what exactly had happened.         “He puts his hand on her shoulder, and suddenly Twi drops the books, grabs his arm, does this awesome little twist motion and tosses Flash Sentry into the salad bar!”  Rainbow Dash began laughing again, leaning on her bike for support as she continued to walk.         Twilight whipped her head to look at her double, who had her head down in shame.  “It’s not like I meant to do it!  Shining Armor has been teaching me self-defense techniques since I was in middle school!  I just reacted on instinct!”         “So yeah,”  Rainbow said between laughs, “Flash got the hint pretty quick after that.  I guess it worked out in the end for him though.”         “Why’s that?”  Twilight asked, trying to figure out how being tossed into a salad bar could work out for anybody.         “Cause he and Sunset Shimmer hooked up again after it was over.  She helped him get cleaned up and I guess they got to talking.  They decided to give it another go since she wasn’t bent on ruining everyone’s lives anymore.”  Rainbow said.         Twilight felt a twinge of disappointment at that.  She wasn’t sure what she was hoping for, but she had enjoyed spending the little bit of time she had with Flash Sentry last time she was here.         Still, that didn’t explain everything.  “Okay, so I get why she’s not with Flash Sentry.  But how did you two end up dating then?”  Twilight was almost desperately curious about that.  From what she could see she was very similar to this world’s Twilight.  And Rainbow Dash was almost identical to her pony counterpart.  So how did two people who were so different end up together?         “Oh oh!  I know!  I know this one!”  Twilight jumped in surprise at the sound of a familiar voice.  She looked around to see that, at some point during the conversation, they had arrived at some kind of eatery.  Obviously their destination, as it was Pinkie Pie who had caused Twilight’s little scare.         Before anyone could say anything else Twilight felt herself wrapped in a bone crushing hug.  “It’s soooooooo awesome to see you again Princess!  It’s been like forever since we last saw you and we all learned the magic of friendship and became great friends again and then you won the Princess of the Fall Formal vote but Sunset Shimmer still stole the crown but you got it back and turned us all into pony-hybrids and we blasted the nasttitude out of Sunny with a big ole rainbow!”         “I-It’s...nice...to...see...you...too...Pinkie.”  Twilight’s voice came out as a squeak as Pinkie continued to squeeze her into the hug.  Then, as quickly as it began, it was over.  Twilight found herself gasping for lungfuls of air and massaging her sides.  Pinkie now stood before them, carrying three menus in her hands.         “So, what’re you guys doing here?”  Pinkie asked innocently, as if she had not just tried to snap Twilight’s spine in half.         “Well, our date,” Rainbow said, motioning between her and the other Twilight, “Kind of got sidetracked after we ran into Twilight here, so-”         “Princess.”  Pinkie interrupted.         “Wha?”         ‘We’ll call her,” Pinkie said, pointing at Twilight, “Princess, cause she is one and it’ll be way too confusing to keep calling her Twilight and her Twilight or something demeaning like ‘the other Twilight’.  That way people don’t keep getting confused about which Twilight we’re talking about!”         Rainbow Dash, the other Twilight who would now simply be known as Twilight, and Twilight who had recently been christened “Princess”, all shared a look before simply shrugging.  Sometimes it was just easier to go along with Pinkie.         Rainbow Dash cleared her throat.  “Right, so me and Twi ran into Princess, who was looking a little lost at the school.  We were telling her about what all happened at the school after she went back to her homeworld.  We figured we’d come by and say hi and maybe grab a snack.”         At this point the four had made their way over to a table.  Rainbow and Twilight sat next to each other, with Pinkie and Princess Twilight taking the seats across from them.                    “Oh goodie!  I love snacks, and hellos!  Hello!”  Pinkie chirped brightly.  “Oh!  Did you guys tell her about how Twilight turned Flash Sentry into a cabbage patch kid?  Or maybe it was just lettuce?”         “We just finished that one actually.”  Twilight said, blushing once again at the memory.         “Yeah, we were just about to tell her how we hooked up!”  Rainbow gave a smile at that.  It was a smile Princess Twilight had never seen on the normally brash athlete’s face, even in her world.  It was a small, happy, personal smile.  She felt like she was intruding just by seeing it, and that feeling only doubled when she saw the same sort of smile on Twilight’s face.         “It was the Daring Do club right?”  Pinkie asked, as she set down cups of hot chocolate and various pastries.  Everyone blinked in surprise, having never even seen the pink haired girl leave her seat.         “Umm…”  Twilight said, shaking her head and writing it off as Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie.  “Yes!  After I transferred to Canterlot High I joined a lot of different clubs, but I was really excited about the Daring Do club.  Imagine my surprise when I got to my first meeting only to find out there’s only one other member in the club.”         “Heh yep.  I was the captain and only member of the Daring Do club.”  Rainbow Dash leaned back in her chair after grabbing a cupcake off the tray Pinkie had delivered.  “There were some seniors in the club last year, but they all graduated.  I didn’t want Daring’s club to just go away, so I stuck with it.  It wasn’t a big deal, just go into the classroom once a week after school and read for an hour or so.”         Twilight shook her head in amusement.  “So I walk into the clubroom, expecting to see at least a handful of people.  Instead I only see one of the ‘crazy girls’ who had been trying to tell me that the school wasn’t pranking me, but instead confusing me with a magical pony princess.”  She laughed a little sheepishly at that.  “I almost turned around and walked right out of the clubroom.”         “Luckily for me, she didn’t!”  Rainbow said through a mouthful of cupcake.  “She walked up and asked if she was in the right room.  I was psyched!  As much as I like Daring Do it got a little boring just hanging out in the clubroom on my own.”         “Rainbow practically demanded I join the club.  She even said I could be ‘Vice-President’.”  Twilight said in amusement.         “So we started hanging out and reading Daring Do and stuff.  Then I started hanging out with Twi at lunch, then after school.  Pretty soon we were hanging out with each other on the weekends.  Sometimes it was with the other girls, but a lot of the times it was just the two of us.”  Rainbow had managed to say all of that without spraying any more crumbs over the table.         Twilight smiled at Rainbow Dash.  “Pretty soon we were spending all our time together.”  Her smile turned a bit wicked, and she teasingly poked Rainbow Dash in the side.  “Then, Rainbow starts acting all weird.  She starts getting all nervous when we would hang out, and starts dressing up when we were out of school.”  Twilight chuckled, while Rainbow Dash tried to hide her blush by devouring another cupcake.  “In retrospect, I can’t believe I didn’t see what was going on.  At first I thought maybe she was getting bored with hanging out together.”         Rainbow swallowed her cupcake and rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.  “I’ve uh.. never been very good at the whole mushy, dating thing.  The dressing up idea came from Rarity, but Twi barely ever noticed.”         This time it was Twilight’s turn to blush.  “I’ve never really been interested in the whole dating thing.  I barely even had friends before I transferred to Canterlot High.  I was just worried that Rainbow might not want to be friends anymore.”         “Oh!  I know!  That’s when I gave you that idea right Dashie?”  Pinkie said.  She was almost bouncing in her chair in excitement.         “Yep.  I talked with Pinkie and she told me about a special challenge that Sugarcube Corner has.”         “The Colossal Cupid Chocolate Malt Matchmaker Supreme!”  Pinkie cheered.  “It’s six pounds of super scrumptious chocolate malt milkshake, with brownies and cookies and other goodies blended in.  It’s served in one giant glass, with a crazy straw that splits off into two separate straws but makes a heart shape.”         Twilight smiled at Princess Twilight.  “I’m sure you can imagine what I was thinking when I arrived and Pinkie put that down between Dash and me.”         Princess Twilight returned the smile, and together the two said, “This is either going to be delicious, or it’s going to kill me.  Probably both.”         The four girls laughed at the synchronized statement.  “Unfortunately for Rainbow, I didn’t exactly recognize the romantic connotations of sharing a milkshake.  I thought she just wanted help beating the challenge.”         “Oh come on!  That was like one of the most romantic things ever!  I mean, chocolates are romantic right?  And that thing had more chocolate than that BonBon’s candy shop in the mall!  Besides everyone knows that sharing a milkshake is totally romantic!”  Rainbow Dash gave a huff, while Pinkie Pie nodded sympathetically.         “Anyways,” Twilight said, rolling her eyes at Rainbow’s declaration.  “Apparently my lack of proper milkshake symbology knowledge was the tipping point for Rainbow Dash.  After we had both recovered from besting the milkshake, she came over and flat-out asked why I wasn’t interested in her.”         Rainbow shrugged as she tried to play it off.  “I was just about ready to give up at that point.  So I went over to her house and just asked.  Of course I should’ve known that Twilight just didn’t get what I was doing.  After all, who could actually turn down the Rainbow Dash?”         “I was a little shocked when Rainbow confronted me about it, but it made everything else that had happened make sense.  After I thought about it, I decided that dating really wasn’t that much different than what we’d already been doing, so I decided to give it a try.”  Twilight winked at Princess Twilight, before nudging Rainbow Dash in the side.  “You should have seen how adorable Rainbow was after I said I’d be her girlfriend.  She was prancing around saying “Oh my gosh!”  over and over again.  I wish I would have recorded that.”         Rainbow began to protest being called adorable, while Pinkie Pie and Twilight continued to tease her.  Princess Twilight only barely noticed, her mind digesting everything she’d just been told.  Was it really that simple to become a couple?  It didn’t sound anything like the way Rarity always described it.  Instead of the explosive, whirlwind sweep-you-off-your-hooves scenarios the fashionista always described, this seemed like simply a gradual understanding that you wanted the other pony (or person in this case) to have a bigger part of your life.         She thought back to her first trip to this world.  The feelings that Flash had invoked when she saw him had been… a novelty she supposed.  She still knew nothing about him, here or back in Equestria.  She had never really had anypony focus that kind of attention on her.  Could she see herself spending almost every day with the charming pegasus?           For that matter, could she see herself spending that much time with anypony?  Sure, she spent a lot of time with her friends (until her princess studies began), but could she really just spend all day just sitting in the library with Rainbow Dash, chatting about the newest Daring Do and laughing at their latest misadventure?         That thought halted Twilight’s mental process for a moment.  Before she could figure out why however, she felt someone tapping her on the shoulder and calling her name (or, Princess, which she was just going to have to get used to).         “Sorry, I was lost in thought there.  What did I miss?”         “We were asking where you’re going to be staying while you’re here?”  Twilight said.         “Oh!”  All thoughts of romance and couples flew from Princess Twilight’s head.  Where was she going to stay?  Last time she had simply slept in the school library, but with the school being closed that wouldn’t be possible.  “I… I’m not sure.  I had been planning on just staying at the school like last time.”         “Oh!  I know I know!  You can stay the night with me!” Pinkie said in excitement.  She threw an arm over Princess Twilight’s shoulder and pulled her closer.  “It’ll be like a sleepover!  And then tomorrow you can come to the beach with us and roast marshmallow a sing groovy songs from the ‘50s!”         Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened at that.  “Oh yeah!  You should totally come to the beach with us tomorrow!  Rarity’s parents own a timeshare that they’re going to let us stay at.  It’s going to be so awesome!”         Both Twilights gave a small giggle at the way Rainbow’s voice squeaked as she finished her sentence.  “That sounds great.”  Princess Twilight said.  And it did.  She would get to spend some time with her friends, and see if the beaches here were any different than the ones in Equestria.  She’d finally be able to relax, and forget about all the stress being a Princess provided.         “We’ll probably have to go to Rarity’s and see if she has a bathing suit Princess can borrow.  I mean, unless you have one.”  Twilight said.         Princess Twilight blinked.  A bathing suit?  Why would anyone wear a suit while they bathed?  “No, I actually didn’t bring anything with me.”  She said, feeling a little sheepish once again at her lack of preparations.         “No worries, I’m sure that Rarity can whip you something up.  Though we’ll probably have to head over there now if she’s gonna have enough time.”  Rainbow Dash gave Twilight a grin.  “Sorry Twi, looks like we’ll have to go see Daring Do some other time.”         Twilight smiled back and leaned against Rainbow Dash, causing the blue skinned girl to blush a deep red.  “I don’t mind Rainbow.  Besides, I want to hear all about this magical pony land, we can always see Daring Do next week.”         Pinkie came skidding to a stop in front of the table, once again surprising the other three who hadn’t even realized she’d left.  Which was especially strange for Princess Twilight, as she still felt like she had been in Pinkie’s one-arm embrace.  “Alrighty!  The cakes said I could have the rest of the afternoon off!  Let’s go to Rarity’s and get Princess her some sexy swimwear!”         As Twilight was dragged from her chair and out the door by the pink ball of energy, one thought ran through her head.         Sexy swimwear?